Co-Founder Kellee Santiago Leaves Thatgamecompany

Kellee Santiago, co-founder of Thatgamecompany, has announced that she will be leaving the studio responsible for such critically-celebrated games as Flower and Journey.

Speaking to Gamasutra, she said, "So much of my work at Thatgamecompany was really supporting Jenova [Chen's] visions for the types of games he wanted to make.

"And I felt like I have done everything I needed to do there, and that he's in a great place now to go on and continue with some of the other people at Thatgamecompany to take that to a whole new height."

Santiago founded the studio with Jenova Chen in 2006, having met at the University of Southern California.

Thatgamecompany issued the following statement to mark Santiago's exit: "After the hard struggle behind Flow, Flower and Journey, we've finally reached our goal. Awaiting at the mountaintop are new enlightenments and new sets of milestones for our life.

"While we want to continue the path of Thatgamecompany, Kellee has found a new direction in her career. Though our path in the future may be different, as TGC begins our next project, we wish Kellee a good journey and that our paths may cross again."

Santiago was not drawn on what her future holds but she said, "My hope is that I can take what I've learned and use it to support more teams, more projects, and really, hopefully, help in accelerating the growth of video games as a medium."